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Ultrasound could give men birth control option, study finds

Scientists at the University of North Carolina have found that zapping rats’ testes with ultrasound treatment drastically reduced sperm levels.

Though the quantity of sperm cells that human males produce varies, the average male produces between two and five millilitres of semen each time they ejaculate, and each millilitre may contain from 20 million to 300 million sperm cells.
(Dennis Wilson / CORBIS)

By Niamh ScallanStaff Reporter

Mon., Jan. 30, 2012

A few blasts of ultrasound to the testes could soon provide men with an effective, inexpensive and pain-free birth control option, new research suggests.

Scientists at the University of North Carolina have found that zapping rats’ testes with ultrasound treatment drastically reduced sperm levels.

“The study is the first to provide detailed insight into how ultrasound might be working inside,” said Elaine Lissner, director of San Francisco-based Male Contraception Information Project.

When researchers tested the rats two weeks after treatment, they found that two ultrasound sessions dropped the rat’s sperm count to a Sperm Count Index of zero and killed sperm-producing germ cells.

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According the study, the best results were achieved when researchers combined elevated temperature, high power and high-frequency ultrasound — and when each rat was given two 15-minute doses two days apart.

Though the quantity of sperm cells that human males produce varies, the average male produces between two and five millilitres of semen each time they ejaculate, and each millilitre may contain from 20 million to 300 million sperm cells.

Lissner said the ultrasound treatment’s sperm-killing effects on rats would likely prove similar for human males.

“You can’t always translate results from rats to humans, but the team has shown what’s going on inside and that mechanism seems to be conserved across species,” she said.

The study builds on the work of Dr. Mostafa Fahim, a University of Missouri-Columbia researcher who first tested the effects of ultrasound treatment on cats, dogs, monkeys, rats and eight men beginning in the early 1970s.

Fahim found that brief ultrasound treatment killed off germ cells and caused infertility — but the technology he used to complete his research went out of circulation and scientists and researchers were unable to replicate his work.

The latest research findings, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2010, proves that ultrasound treatment holds great promise as the base for a male contraceptive, said Lissner.

But the full effects of ultrasound treatment are still unclear, he added. He and other researchers do not know how long the treatment lasts, its effects on the body if used repeatedly and whether its effects are fully reversible.

In Canada, birth control choices for men are limited to abstinence, withdrawal, condoms and the more-invasive vasectomy — a surgical procedure where the vasa in the scrotum is cut and blocked to prevent sperm from reaching the ejaculate.

According to a United Nations report on world contraception, between 10 and 15 per cent of married couples in Canada, the United States, parts of Europe and Chine opt for a vasectomy.

With few options for men, birth control responsibilities lie largely with women worldwide.

According to a 2009 national study of Canadian women’s contraceptive practices, condoms, oral contraceptives and withdrawal remain the most commonly used methods.

Women also have access to a spate of other contraceptive options, including the diaphragm, sponge, patch, ring and intrauterine device. But less than five per cent of survey respondents opted for those methods.

According to the World Health Organization, about 50 million abortions are conducted worldwide every year. About half of those procedures are unsafe, resulting in roughly 47,000 maternal deaths.

For Lissner, ultrasound therapy — if proven to be safe in the long term — would not only provide another safe and inexpensive contraception method, it could also encourage men to share a greater role in family planning.

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